You? Call That a Rescue
by AnHeiressofaSOLDIER
Summary: Before Alice left Wonderland after Cyrus' "death", she had one more moment where the Knave tried to comfort her. This is that moment. Will/Alice friendship, Cyrus/Alice, and hints of Will/Anastasia. OUaTiW missing moment.


**"** **You?" "Call That a Rescue."**

Alice was crying. Crying on the yellow, patterned brick walkway that connected most of Wonderland together.

Really, she supposed she was more laying down on it than anything else-tracing some of lines here and there with her fingers, and trying her hardest not to think.

She wasn't even entirely sure how she'd even gotten here. She thought the Red Queen must have brought her back, for whatever reason—to torture her moreso, perhaps—but...

How the woman had even found them—Her. Alice refused to believe there had been more than just her at the Boiling Sea now, because then she'd have to admit that…—the girl didn't know, but what was even more curious was that the Queen had somehow gone from world to world _without_ someone to make portals, it seemed.

Alice tried hard not to question that.

In fact, Alice tried not to do much at all right now, except for coming up with a way to get back home, so that she could partly forget everything.

That idea was instantly nipped in the bud, however, when Alice heard a familiar footfall that she knew all too well. Though it wasn't his steps that alerted Alice to the fact that it was him, as much as the fact that he seemed to be running from something:

The Knave.

Idly, Alice knew that she should have been getting to her feet, and preparing to banter with him and to tell him that, surely, whatever he was doing now was wrong. That was always the case when it came to Will, after all. But she couldn't have found the strength to stand up now even if she'd tried.

And besides, if she were to stand and have such a conversation with her friend right now, she'd be pretending far too much in it. And Alice, though she was mostly doing good at tricking herself at the moment, couldn't imagine doing so that much.

And so… And so she let him call for her worriedly, to run to her when he saw her, and to even pick her up slightly in trying to get a good look at her. All the while, Alice felt completely numb.

She couldn't explain it exactly, but she felt like she was balancing on a knife's edge. Either she'd tip over the side, and become a crying mess again (something Alice thought she'd probably do in the near future no matter what, if she was being honest), or she'd continue to disassociate. Right now, disassociating sounded so much the better option.

"Alice, love, what's wrong with ya? Are you hurt? Where's Cyrus?"

Honestly, despite everything, Will was _so_ nice. Alice remembered when he'd compared her to his sister, and she could hear in his voice now that he was indeed worrying over her much like a big brother would.

It almost seemed cruel to tell him what she was about to now—especially since she'd just gotten his heart back, and if he cared for her at all, then he'd surely feel pain for what she was about to tell him—but only the rational part of her mind was thinking this.

The part of her that was still traumatized, and seized by adrenaline, could do nothing else but tell her dear friend the truth, as she began sobbing anew. "The Red Queen. Cyrus, Cyrus and I- We were at the Boiling Sea, but then she- she came forward and killed him. Oh, Will!"

There was something in the Knave's eyes that Alice saw then, before he ended up enveloping her in his arms and rocking her some: some sort of look of responsibility, she thought. But responsibility for what, Alice didn't know.

Maybe he just hated seeing her in pain, like he'd hated seeing his sister fall beneath the ice?

"The Red Queen had no right doing that to ya. None at all. Just say the word, Alice, and I'll go get her so we can enact our revenge on her."

Later, when Alice would come back to Wonderland and begin questioning about Anastasia, she would realize that she should have asked about the Knave's curious choice of the word "we" in that sentence, but at the time that it had occurred, Alice could only think of tea and her father: the only thing she could imagine making things right for her in her new situation.

"That's… that's quite tempting, Knave," Alice hiccupped, pulling away from Will somewhat reluctantly, as this could very well end up being the last comfort that she would ever receive, now that Cyrus- oh god, she couldn't even think about it! "But what I… what I really want is to go home. There's nothing left for me in Wonderland."

Will seemed reluctant at her words, Alice thought. Perhaps he, too, was realizing that she had no proof to take back with her anymore, and that she might once again be discredited about things in her world.

But with a quick shrug of his shoulders and a slight—somewhat fake looking—smile, he ended up relenting. "Of course, Alice. Of course. If ya wanna go home, I'll personally make sure that that's the next on the agenda for you. I mean, I'm getting pretty tired of Wonderland meself. Don't want to make the Caterpillar's job any easier, do I? …Anyway, I'll go see about finding the White Rabbit for you, and then you can get to healing and all that."

Will surprised Alice by giving her one last hug before running off (something she barely even had time to return, with how fast he pulled away from her), and then she simply waited.

She quickly forgot about what she was waiting _on_ , though, and instead realized she was in the exact same place she'd been when she had met Cyrus.

Unable to accept reality in the slightest yet, Alice dared dream that maybe she'd been sent back in time and would have a second chance at everything now!

The girl from Victorian England didn't _see_ Cyrus' bottle anywhere, but just in case, she ended up covering up the area she'd first seen it in with a mound of dirt. No one would be finding a bottle there anytime soon!

When the White Rabbit ended up making his appearance, it brought everything back to Alice again.

She tried to hide her growing unease enough to thank the Rabbit for what he was about to do, but he wisely saw through her disguise and attempted to console her all the same.

The next thing Alice knew, she was going through the Rabbit's creation, climbing up out of a hole in her own home, and finding… that somehow the feel of the dirt against her fingers reminded her of how useless said fingers had been when she'd needed them to catch the one she loved.

When Millie ended up finding her, Alice was no longer in the denial stage, but one of grief.

And as for Will Scarlet? Alice had already blocked his help from her mind. And so it was that she was somewhat cross with him when she ended up seeing him again at the asylum.

Maybe, deep down, she knew that he understood better than anyone the need to forget, like she herself had been feeling then. Maybe.

 **Author's Note: A story idea I came up recently (as I just recently rewatched all of OUaTiW with friends who were seeing it for the first time).**

 **I tried my best not to have this contradict anything, though it maybe does. Mainly because I don't know if Will left Wonderland before Alice or after her. If it was before, then this story most likely doesn't make sense. But I don't think they ever specified that, so I'm rolling with it.**

 **Anyway, how'd I do? I love this fandom immensely, but this is the first time I've ever written for it. I might do so more in the future now^_^**

 **I'm also more of a Knalice shipper, but I tried to keep this canon to the show (besides, as much as I love Will/Alice, their platonic bond is just as much to die for). And I do love Cyrus/Alice and Will/Anastasia. Don't get me wrong:)**

 **This story came out somewhat differently than I intended. There's definitely less detail than I would've hoped for, but then again… Alice is pretty much catatonic at this point, so… she's certainly not noticing things as much as she usually would.**

 **Oh, and the title's supposed to be a play on some of the lines during the asylum bit in the show. Alice's incredulous, "You?!" and "You call that a rescue?" to Will, that is. But here it's spun in a positive light. I imagine that Will's the one saying "You?" (in asking Alice what she, maybe later on, thought of him helping her right after Cyrus' "death"), and Alice kindly replying, "(I) Call that a rescue.":D**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **-Shanna**


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